The Pope's words of comfort for Madeleine's weeping parents
At one point, an English-speaking priest issued a prayer on behalf of the Pope: "In a special way his blessing goes to your children and your loved ones." His words proved too much for the couple, who broke down and wiped back the tears with their heads bowed. Through the emotional event, Mr McCann comforted his wife, slipping his arm around her waist and squeezing her shoulder.
A Catholic priest accompanying them also hugged and comforted her. After the meeting, Kate spoke of how touched she and Gerry were to meet the Pope, saying "it can only make us stronger". She added: "It was a very emotional but very positive experience.
It's been very important to us. "He was very kind, very sincere. He said he would pray for us and our family and Madeleine's safe return.
" Gerry admitted that the meeting was "more personal than I ever could have imagined it would be" and added: "His touch and thoughts were more tender than we could have hoped." At a press conference after the address, the McCanns reaffirmed that they would not be leaving Portugal until Madeleine was found. Kate said: "We don't have any plans at all to return to the UK.
I can't really think about that at the moment." The McCanns had earlier sheltered from the fierce sun under an umbrella as temperatures soared to 26C while they waited for Benedict XVI to begin his open-air audience in front of crowd of 40,000 gathered in the square. The couple looked tired and drawn.
Mrs McCann wore a green and yellow ribbon in her hair and occasionally dabbed at her eyes with a paper handkerchief. Fighting back tears, the McCanns left Portugal yesterday for the first time since their daughter Madeleine disappeared nearly four weeks ago to make their highest profile appeal yet. The strain showing on their faces, the McCanns arrived at the Castel Sant'Angelo just after 9.
30am local time to look at the Vatican from a distance. Kate McCann was still holding Madeleine's favourite toy, Cuddle Cat, when she arrived in Rome. "This is very nerve-racking to be here.
" Seated behind the McCanns today was a group of pilgrims from London. Tom Kavanagh, from Merton said: "We are aware that the McCanns were coming to the audience and in fact they were sitting just in front of us. "We are all parents ourselves and we really do sympathise with them.
"Children are really special and it's all so uncertain what has happened. Madeleine and her family are in our prayers." The couple's twins, Sean and Amelie, have been left with relatives in Praia de Luz.
The McCanns have relied on their faith since Madeleine, four, disappeared nearly four weeks ago. 'Nerve-racking': Madeleine McCann's parents Gerry and Kate, carrying Cuddly Cat, arrive in St Peter's Square, Rome, today for an audience with the Pope
Yesterday, their two-year-olds Sean and Amelie waved and said "Bye, bye" as Gerry and Kate left them in the care of relatives for a 24-hour trip to Rome to meet the Pope. It was one more moment of heartache for the McCanns, who have hardly let the toddlers out of their sight for a moment since their four-year-old sister was taken.
Throughout the two and a half hour flight, the couple held hands for comfort. Kate and Gerry, both 38-year-old doctors, were given the use of retail tycoon Sir Philip Green's 12-seater Gulfstream jet after the billionaire offered them his assistance. They were met in Rome by the British ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell, and taken to the British residency, where they stayed overnight ahead of today's appointment at the Vatican.
Throughout their ordeal the McCanns, church-going Catholics, have leaned heavily on their faith. They have attended services regularlyvisited Portugal's holiest shrine Fatima last week and believe the trip to Rome will be spiritually uplifting. them a tremendous amount of strength and comfort.
" Mr and Mrs McCann hope to get back to Praia da Luz in time to put Sean and Amelie to bed. Later they plan to visit Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Morocco to raise awareness about their daughter. The trip comes days after video footage of Madeleine was released by her parents.
The two short film clips, taken by a family friend on a mobile on 28 April, show Madeleine, dressed all in pink, clambering up the steps to the aircraft at East Midlands airport and sitting on a shuttle bus at Faro airport. Scroll down for more..
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Since Madeleine vanished, her mother has carried her favourite toy Cuddle Cat everywhere as a poignant symbol of hope. But it has emerged that the toy could have been a crucial key in tracking down Madeleine's abductor if only police had carried out proper forensic tests on it.
Madeleine took the soft toy to bed with her every night and it was with her when her parents tucked her up in bed alongside her brother and sister on May 3 before going out for dinner 40 yards away. When Kate came back to check on the children, Madeleine had vanished but the cat had been left behind. Any forensic or DNA evidence that an abductor might have left on the toy could be vital to identifying him, but experts said the subsequent contamination would make it difficult or impossible to recover a reliable sample.
One said: "It's an absolutely glaring error. immediately and examined in scientific conditions." The apparent failure joins a catalogue of blunders and shortcomings in a police operation that has so far found not a single trace of Madeleine, who will have been missing for four weeks tomorrow.
It has become clear that the police account of the most reliable and detailed description of her likely abductor, given by a woman who saw someone walking off with a child wrapped in a blanket, got his height wrong. The woman, who was on her way to join the McCanns for dinner that night, described him as being 5ft 7in tall. It took detectives 22 days to release that description to the public and appeal for information - but they said they were looking for a man who was 5ft 10in tall.
Incredibly, the error appears to have been made through a simple mis-conversion of centimetres to inches. In Portuguese, police declared that he was 170cm tall, which is 5ft 7in. Then in English, they said he was 5ft 10in.
The extra three inches would make a crucial difference between a "tall" suspect and one of average height. To add further confusion, a Portuguese police press release gave a height of between 170cm and 175cm, which is between 5ft 7in and just under 5ft 9in. Robert Murat, who is 5ft 8in.
15 people have commented on this story so far. Tell us what you think below. Here's a sample of the latest comments published.
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- Salman Ali, London
Our heart goes out to Mr and Mrs McCann and all their family in this terrible time. We are really praying constantly to God for the safe return of precious little Madeleine.
- Denise, Malta
I have a daughter the same age, and look at her thinking if something so terrible would happen to her I would die. What's so awful is not knowing. I suffer for the whole family and see that they are doing all they can.
All of us need to keep our eyes open and pray that she will return.
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